Scribd
Upload
678 views1 page

Kuba Cloth

Unique Kuba cloth pillows covers and wall hangings/table runners, hand made from natural fibres. Considered among the very finest of Africa's textiles, Kuba cloth has been produced for centuries. Their aesthetics and bold graphics have had a significant impact on the development of modern art and have influenced artists such as Picasso, Matisse and Klee.

Uploaded by

magoye
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
678 views1 page

Kuba Cloth

Unique Kuba cloth pillows covers and wall hangings/table runners, hand made from natural fibres. Considered among the very finest of Africa's textiles, Kuba cloth has been produced for centuries. Their aesthetics and bold graphics have had a significant impact on the development of modern art and have influenced artists such as Picasso, Matisse and Klee.

Uploaded by

magoye
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

Kuba cloth pillow covers and table runners/wall hangings

Our Kuba pillow covers and table runners/wall hangings are made with the bold geometries and rich
textures of hand-woven raffia cloth from the Kuba people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The pillow covers are backed with fabric in natural tones which complement the Kuba textiles. Each one
is a unique design.

Considered among the very finest of


Africa's textiles, weavings from this
great textile society have long been
valued and collected. In Europe,
documented inventories of private
and museum collections have even
been traced back to the 16th and 17th
Centuries. Their aesthetics and bold
graphics have had a significant impact
on the development of modern art and have influenced artists such
as Picasso, Matisse and Klee.

There are two basic types


of Kuba cloth, made with
woven strands from leaves
of the raffia palm tree.
This first is a flat-weave
that often has appliquéd
symbols and shapes sewn
over the background (see
at left). The second is often referred to as Shoowa velvet raffia or cut
pile embroidery (see at right).

The basic unit of Kuba weaving is the undecorated square of plain raffia cloth, the mbal, woven on an
upright single-heddle loom. These are then sewn together to make the finished textile. The raffia thread
is dyed to produce shades of red, brown, black and yellow. Shoowa velvet raffia is made by pulling a few
threads of the raffia fibres, inserting them into a needle, running the needle through the cloth until the
fibres show up on the opposite end. A knife is used to cut off the top of the fibres, leaving only a little
showing. Doing this hundred of times creates a design. The
appliqué designs are sewn on in abstract designs. Kuba artists
favour an improvisational, fluid effect that plays with deliberate asym-
metries and pattern variation.

Carl Rittenhouse
506 - 483 Linwell Rd., St. Catharines, ON L2M2P6
T: 289 362 1683
e: [email protected]

You might also like